Bad Environmental Ideas

Stan Freberg here. Here are some bad environmental ideas that backfired, and some that were called off in the nick of time. Be right back. [:60 SPOT BREAK] Freberg here. In 1962, Dr. Edward Teller lobbied hard to detonate a series of nuclear explosives under the Arctic ice in Alaska, in order to blast open a giant shipping harbor on a frozen stretch of coastline. Fortunately, the Eskimos caught on, and forced the government to scrap the idea. And in 1978, the California state Senate endorsed the idea of towing icebergs across the Pacific, to provide fresh water to drought-stricken California. A Rand Corporation plan called for "iceberg trains," driven by electric propellers, and powered by a floating nuclear plant. Hmm. Next, in 1978, James Schlesinger, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, suggested shooting high-level radioactive waste into the sun from aboard the space shuttle. Um-hmm. Just drop that in the suggestion box, Jim, thank you. And in the 1960s, the World Health Organization decided to clean up Borneo's mosquito and cockroach problem by spraying large amounts of DDT. The dangerous pesticide killed the mosquitos, but didn't kill the cockroaches, which the lizards ate. Then the cats ate the lizards, and died. So millions of rats descended on Borneo, and threatened an outbreak of bubonic plague. The U.S. had to parachute in new cats to control the rats! That's SCIENCE working for YOU! Stan Freberg here. Copyright (C)1997, Stan Freberg/Freberg, Ltd. (but not very) Distributed by Dick Brescia Associates and Radio Spirits, Inc.